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PAPEE CUTTING 

OOEEELATED 

WITH THE 

COMMON SCHOOL 
BRANCHES 



BY 

BESS DIXON 

Teacher in the Public Schools, Warrensburg, Missouri 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 



COPYKIGHT. 1922 
BY 

EDUCATIOXAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 



;i.A6S6610 



NOI/ - 1 1922 



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FOREWORD 

It is hoped that this Httle book will prove 
of much value to teachers of the lower grades. 
Its mission is to help solve many problems 
which present themselves during the school 
year. 

The author is indebted to Dr. Frank 
McMurry, who read the manuscript and passed 
judgment upon its contents. 



CONTENTS 

September . 9 

October .21 

November 33 

December 43 

January 47 

February 59 

March 69 

April 81 

May 87 

Suggestions 91 

A Model Lesson 95 



PAPER CUTTING 

Correlated with the Commois' 
School Brai^ches 

september 

We have heard and read much about hand 
work. We have been told of its benefits 
from pedagogical and psychological stand-points. 
Have we ever carefully tested the theories? 

I shall tell how paper cutting was correlated 
with the common school branches throughout 
the second year's work. The work was moti- 
vated, the cuttings were free hand and the 
ideas embodied were advanced by the children. 

During the warm September days, we learned 
about Gemila, the child of the desert. Before 
beginning the story, we decided to learn all 
we could about this child's country for several 
reasons. How interesting it would be to pre- 



10 PAPER CUTTING 

tend we were visiting in this strange land and 
were seeing the strange sights! What fun to 
take pictures of a typical desert scene so that 
we might give lantern slide talks to a higher 
grade! To be sure, our snapshots were taken 
with paper and scissors and our slides were 
combined in a big poster. The children were 
intensely interested in the procession formed 
while moving from place to place on the desert. 
Consequently, we embodied these ideas shown 
on the poster. 

Did the higher grade enjoy the lantern slide 
talk? They appreciated it greatly and mar- 
veled at the speaker's knowledge. The talk 
included: 

1 The reasons why Gemila's father must seek 

a new home. 

2 The preparation for departure. 

3 The order of procession. 

4 The hours of traveling and the reason. 

5 The stops along the way and what was 

done when they stopped. 



PAPER CUTTING 13 

6 Things seen along the way. 

a Palm trees. Description of them. 

Value of palm trees. 
h Tents. Location of those seen. 
c Ostrich. Description of it. Its way 

of hiding. Its nest and its eggs. 

How proud grade two was when the audience 
applauded ! And our speaker ! He felt as much 
repaid as if he had received a check for his 
talk. Can you not appreciate the children's 
ideas as you look at the picture? 

As September brings Eugene Field's birth- 
day, we learned about him and read some of 
his poems. The children liked the poem en- 
titled ''The Duel/' and wished to show the 
fight in paper cutting. Our superintendent 
was invited to visit us for a few minutes. One 
of our best readers was chosen to read ''The 
Duel" and one of our keen hearers stood 
beside the reader with poster. As the reader 
reached the line — "And how the gingham 
and calico flew!" — the other child held the 



14 PAPER CUTTING 

poster high. What a surprise for our super- 
intendent! 

How pleased the children were when another 
grade asked to see this poster! They were 
glad they had made something that another 
grade could use. The grade that asked for 
the poster seemed to enjoy the poem all the 
more because of the illustration made by the 
second grade. 

As for the technical work in language, what 
fun it would be to show those eighth grade 
people that we knew some of the marks of 
punctuation which they used in story writing! 
We could make those marks talk to them too. 
So the period and question mark were reviewed. 
These marks then had their pictures taken. 
The exclamation point was developed and its 
picture was taken too. The completed poster 
will be shown farther on in this book. 

In spelling, the words missed the greatest 
number of times during the month were cut 
and mounted. This poster was placed in the 
front of the room and we played school. The 



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PAPER CUTTING 17 

teacher played that she was a pupil and one 
of the pupils was chosen to be the teacher. 
This teacher called on different pupils to say 
the words on the poster. She then called for 
volunteers to stand with back turned to the 
poster and spell the words so dictated. She 
also called for volunteers to write the words 
on the blackboard as they were dictated. 

How the children worked so the teacher, 
who had become a pupil, could not outdo them! 

In number work, a counting poster was 
made in order that mother and father might 
see how many ways we could count and how 
well we could take pictures of numbers. 

Even music received a share of hand work. 
This was to be a surprise for our music super- 
visor. 

Thus, the warm September days passed and 
much was learned without employing the usual 
burdensome ' ' cramming method . ' ' Interest was 
keen and results were excellent. 



OCTOBER 

The leaves gave a party one autumn day 

And invited the north wind bold, 
They put on their dresses of crimson and brown 

With the borders splashed with gold. 

What a grand opportunity to show the 
leaves of different trees in paper cutting! The 
children should know the leaves of the trees 
in the locality in which they live. How they 
will delight in playing photographer and taking 
each leaf's picture! 

Discovery Day, October the twelfth, ap- 
proached. The story of Columbus was de- 
veloped. The children wished to make two 
posters. On one the Columbus ideas were to 
predominate. On the other the Indian ideas 
were to be foremost. These posters were to 
be used as a part of our program on the after- 
noon of the twelfth. What a store of historical 
knowledge was embodied in those two posters! 



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PAPER CUTTING 23 

And how surprised the patrons were when this 
knowledge was disclosed ! 

The latter part of October, the origin of 
Hallowe'en was depicted in the All-hallow Eve 
poster. We wanted it to be a typical night 
scene, so chose dark blue paper for the poster; 
black paper for the houses, old witch, bat, cat, 
brownies, trees and owls; orange-colored paper 
for the sacred fires and the moon. 

Two symbolic Hallowe'en posters were then 
made. One must be ''spookey.'' Hence we 
chose colored paper as in the All-hallow Eve 
poster. 

These post(=!rs were used as a part of our 
schoolroom decoration the week in which Hal- 
lowe'en came. 

Then, too, besides being our basis for history, 
they figured in reading, spelling, language and 
arithmetic lessons. 

Such an interesting story of ''How a Jack- 
o'-Lantern Saved a Pilgrim Family"! Can't 
you get into the spirit of it when you see the 
poster portrayal? 



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PAPER CUTTING 27 

On the afternoon of Hallowe'en Day, a few 
of our boys came to school dressed in their 
Indian suits. They told no secrets. A big 
Jack-o'-lantern was on the teacher's desk, as 
she had promised the children should sing 
their songs about it, light it and have a Hallow- 
e'en story. After the songs were sung, the 
teacher said one of the poster stories would 
be acted. The curtains were adjusted and, 
in the dark, Indians could be seen cautiously 
approaching the front of the room. A few 
children had been asked to stand back of the 
desk with the teacher. A match was struck 
and given to one of the children with the 
injunction, ''Light the Jack-o'-lantern." How 
those Indians ran! It was not hard to guess 
which poster story those boys wished to act. 

An interesting spelling lesson took place 
at the end of the month. Our leaf poster, 
Columbus posters and Hallowe'en posters had 
been given a place of display as they were 
finished. This question was asked: ''Who can 
write on the board a word suggested by one 



28 PAPER CUTTING 

of our posters?" Each child was allowed to do 
as he or she volunteered. How the eyes and 
thinking caps worked ! 

On another day, a reading game took place. 
The children were to do what the sentences 
told them. And each sentence related to one 
of the posters. Examples: 

Show me Columbus and the angry sailors. 
Write the name of the home in which the 
Indians live. 

Draw an old witch. 
Cut a Jack-o'-lantern. 
Find a cedar tree. 
Count the Indians you see. 

How quickly the hands showed who could 
do each thing! How quietly they worked! 
How the eves sDarkled! 



NOVEMBER 

The golden grain was gathered all, 
The fruits, the maize and the nuts of fall, 
And the Pilgrim Fathers gave a feast 
Of thanks for the care of man and beast 
That first Thanksgiving Day. 

As the study of the Pilgrims comes in Novem- 
ber, we learned about Holland, the country to 
which the Pilgrims first journeyed. The queer 
custom of using wooden shoes for so many 
things appealed to the children. Does not 
the poster prove this? 

After we completed our poster, something 
interesting happened. Hans, none other than 
our own Maurice, visited us. He thought we 
had learned much of Holland. He told us 
more concerning the pictures on our poster. 
The new information he gave us was based on 
readings from ''Nan and Ned in Holland.'' 
How we enjoyed his talk! 

33 



PAPER CUTTING 37 

Our Pilgrims did not stay in the queer 
country of Holland very long, but came to 
America. We learned of their lives there. Do 
the posters recall bits of history? 

Each child chose one thing from our Pilgrim 
posters, cut it out of white paper, mounted it 
on a piece of black paper, pasted it at the top 
of a tablet sheet, then wrote a story under the 
picture. Although short, the stories were good. 

One child chose a log cabin. Her story ran 
thus: 

''This is a log cabin. It is the home of a 
little Pilgrim. This little Pilgrim's name is 
Faith. Faith has a big fire-place in her home. 
Candles light her home. The furniture and 
dishes in this log cabin were made by her 
father.^' 

Did we not learn how Jack-o'-lantern saved 
a Pilgrim family, in our study of Hallowe'en? 
This poster had been put away for our Parents' 
Day exhibit. We got it out and put it in the 



PAPER CUTTING 39 

front of the room. Then we called for volun- 
teers to tell the story. Thus, we had material 
for a review. 

The children should know Robert Louis 
Stevenson. As his birthday is November the 
thirteenth, we read his poems, ''The Land of 
Story Books'' and ''My Shadow,'' in our 
second reader. They heard several poems from 
"The Child's Garden of Verses" also. We 
decided which of these poems were suitable 
for the month of November and chose "Autumn 
Fires" to show in poster form. We learned 
the poem which our poster designated. This 
poster played a part in our opening exercises 
several mornings. 

In technical language, we learned the comma 
and its use in a series of words. This mark 
was cut so that it might find a place on "The 
Story of the Marks of Punctuation" poster 
planned in September. 

As November calls for a Thanksgiving dinner, 
Liquid and Dry Measures were developed. 
The fact that two pints equal one quart ap- 



PAPER CUTTING 41 

peared in both measures called forth the desire 
to show the two mounted on the same poster. 
This poster was to be loaned to a higher grade 
which was working with these measures. 



DECEMBER 

December is here, heigh-o! 
To our playrooms now let us go 
To look for some toys for the poor girls and boys, 
'Tis fun to play Santa, you know. 

How do the boys and girls of Holland, 
France, Italy, Scandinavia and Mexico ob- 
serve Christmas? We learned many interest- 
ing things concerning this topic. 

As Christmas in Holland comes the sixth of 
December, we visited that country first. How 
good of St. Nicholas to come in the after- 
noon, so we could see him, and then come again 
at night! What a wonderful time we had! 
How eager the children were to enter into 
Christmas observances in other countries! We 
brought back pictures of observances in other 
lands and took a picture of our own jolly Santa, 
the fireplace and the stockings waiting to be 
filled. 

4:{ 



44 PAPER CUTTING 

But why these observances? Then came 
the story of the birth of Christ. We made a 
blackboard poster of the Wise ^len on their 
way to the manger. 

We learned many words suggestive of Christ- 
mas, and each child contributed a word for 
our spelling poster. 

As we spoke of Santa's reindeer, mother's 
present, St. Nicholas's black servant, Alother 
Goose's broomstick and Tom's Christmas tree, 
it was a good time to introduce the apostrophe. 
After the introduction, its picture was taken, 
so it could appear with the other marks of 
punctuation. 

Paper cutting correlation figured again, but 
not in poster form. As Christmas called for 
remembrances, the children were counting the 
money in their banks. Hence, a motive for 
the study of money values. We made our ovm 
paper money, cut toys from old catalogs and 
played store. We made posters advertising 
our tov department. 



JANUARY 

By the North Pole dwells, we know, 
Chilly little Eskimo. 

The children were greatly interested in the 
study of the Eskimo's country. They wanted 
one poster to be a typical Eskimo scene and 
the other to be a portrayal of the games, indoor 
and outdoor. 

The portrayal of games, indoor and outdoor, 
was a blackboard poster. We showed the little 
Eskimos weaving the strings in and out of 
their fingers in order to make a reindeer, a 
seal or something else. Then we showed a 
child playing nooglootook. 

Next, the outdoor games were depicted. 
There were children playing sand-bag ball, 
football, bat and ball, shooting the reindeer 
antlers, rolling down hill, playing hide-and- 
seek behind icebergs and shooting arrows into 
the air. 



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PAPER CUTTING 53 

reading and language, too? No pigeon-holing 
of subjects there. 

We decided to be Eskimos next day and play 
nooglootook. Several children wished to make 
the game at home, so we told how the game was 
made and available materials which might be 
used. 

What fun the next day brought! It brought 
another correlation too. We wrote a number 
above each hole in our make-believe ivory 
piece, and if a child happened to get the pin 
in one of the holes, the number above that 
hole told the score. At the end of the game, 
each child's scores were added so that we might 
name the winner. All the scores were then 
added to find the number of points made. 

We wanted to try the outdoor games. But 
were we not make-believe Eskimos and did not 
darkness prevail? We decided to content our- 
selves with the indoor games until the six 
months of light should come. 

The snow-covered earth, in our own country 
as well as the Eskimo's country, called for a 



54 PAPER CUTTING 

Study of snow crystals. Besides obsening the 
beautiful shapes of the crystals, they learned 
the geometrical build of them. To be sure, 
the children could not understand what sixty 
degi'ees between the points of the crystals 
meant, but they were given the "eye idea'' 
of that distance. They wished this poster to 
show what beautiful things the microscope 
showed them. 

Januaiy suggests the study of the di^dsion. 
of time, and we found it very interestmg. 
We learned the names of the months of the 
year, then cut and mounted them. Xext came 
the names of the days of the week. They 
were dealt with in a similar manner. Thus 
we had lessons in spelling and technical lan- 
guage, as well as nmnber work. 

Then we learned to tell time. AVe wanted 
the Parents' Day exliibit to show this phase 
of our nmnber work, so we decided to work 
out "The Stoiy of Om^ Day Told by the 
Clocks." But does not the clock say "four 
minutes mitil one," * "sixteen minutes of eight/*" 



PAPER CUTTING 57 

and so on? After learning to tell time so 
minutely, the children were asked how we 
could make an interesting poster of this type. 
A railroad time-table from our daily paper 
solved the problem. Would you know when 
to expect No. 2, No. 38, No. 5, No. 1 and No. 7 
if you lived in Warrensburg? 

Did we not hear the story of Menie and 
Monnie, the Eskimo twins? In connection 
with this, the quotation marks were developed. 
Their pictures were taken. 

Several days later, the marks were all 
mounted. The children decided how the period 
should introduce itself to those eighth grade 
people so they would never forget it. The 
sentences were taken by the teacher as dictated 
and copied on the poster in white ink. The 
other marks introduced themselves and our 
''Story of the Marks of Punctuation'' was 
finished. 



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FEBRUARY 

Lives of great men all remind us, 
We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time. 

Although the shortest month of the year, 
February contains the birthdays of several 
famous men. 

The eleventh is the birthday of the genius, 
Edison. ''The Wizard of Oz'' had been read 
to the children and this question was asked: 
''How many would like to know about a wizard 
who lives to-day?'' Every hand went up, so 
they were shown a picture of Edison and were 
told that he was called the Wizard of Menlo 
Park and why he was so called. They were 
shown pictures of his inventions and inventions 
upon which he had improved. They were told 
interesting stories of his life. What fun to 
learn about an actually existing wizard! 

59 



60 



PAPER CUTTING 



The suniniaiy came on Edison's biithday. 
^Ve played \^izards. and with paper and scis- 
sors, displayed in fifteen minutes the things 



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that it took Eaison months and years to work 
out or improve upon. 

The twehth is Lincoln's Bii'thday. We 
learned about his life, and it was Lincoln as a 
rail spliuer which unpressed the children deeply 
for this was the idea that poster showed. 

Then comes A'alentine Day. The origin of 
valentines was learned and valentines were 
made to be sold for Red Cross. 

The histoiw work of the month ended with 



PAPER CUTTING 65 

the study of George Washington. The con- 
structive summary showed three events in his 
life. In the third scene, could you cut each 
boat, with its contents, in one piece and do 
it with round-pointed five cent scissors? 

The twenty-seventh brings Longfellow's 
Birthday. We read again the Hiawatha books 
that we read in the first grade. Does the 
poster show you Hiawatha and any of his 
friends? 

The children were told that Longfellow had 
written a poem about the blacksmith of whom 
we had studied. The first four verses of the 
poem were read to them and they decided 
that verse four would show the blacksmith 
and his little friends. 



MARCH 

How the wind blows! We learned the 
Churchill-Grindell song called ''March Wind." 
The chorus said, ''I send the ships across the 
sea, blow, blow!'' 

How important the wind was in ancient 
transportation by water! The children wished 
to learn of ancient transportation by land. 
We then compared the ancient and modern. 
We let a higher grade name the different 
means of transportation shown on our poster. 

As the third of March is the Feast of Dolls 
in Japan, we decided to take the trip on a 
modern steamer. We reached there in time 
to enjoy this event. While there, we learned 
many interesting things about the country 
and the people. As you did not go with 
us, we brought back pictures so we could give 
you a lantern slide talk. 

We decided to visit China while we were 



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PAPER CUTTING 73 

SO near. We compared this country with 
Japan and brought shdes so you could compare 
them, too. 

What an interesting trip! How much we 
learned ! 

Upon our return, we had a Feast of Dolls 
and invited the third grade. We sang the 
song, ''Japanese,'' from ''Songs In Season,'' 
gave them a lantern slide talk on the Sunrise 
Land, explained the Feast of Dolls and partook 
of a tiny feast before the dolls, as is the custom. 
After our guests' departure, we took the pic- 
tures of our dolls. 

We reached home in time to see the signs 
of spring. And the children watched eagerly 
for every sign. Our poster registered each 
arrival that the children noted. 

How jolly it would be to visit a northern 
sugar camp! We chose our means of trans- 
portation and found ourselves there. Our part 
in conservation of sugar made this a most 
interesting trip. Sugar camp pictures and the 
accompanying talk miade the trip realistic. 



PAPER CUTTING 77 

Hurrah! We are here at last. See the trees 
and the people moving about. Let us see 
what this man is doing. He is taking a bucket 
off of the tree. It is full of something that 
looks like water. It is coming out of that 
tube in the tree. Let us taste it. How sweet 
it is! What will the man do with this? Come, 
let us follow him. (As we watch the procedure 
through pictures, we pretend that the men 
have given us some of the thick syrup.) Oh, 
children! Here is a spoon and here is the hot 
syrup. Let us make something in this pan 
of snow. Tommy, what are you going to 
make? Now let Mary tell us what she is 
going to make? (Each child is given the spoon 
so he can pretend to be dropping hot syrup 
on the snow. As he drops it, he tells what 
he is making.) 

At last, it was time to go home. As no one 
brought a camera, it was suggested that our 
scissors and paper should show the things we 
saw at camp. This poster was a souvenir of 
our trip. 



78 PAPER CUTTING 

St. Patrick's Day was not slighted. We 
learned how Saint Patrick used the shamrock 
leaf to teach the people about the Trinity. 
We then cut and colored shamrocks for father 
and mother. 







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APRIL 

Can we correlate paper cutting with any 
work during this month? Certainly, we can 
do so. Does not Paul Revere's Ride receive 
a portion of our time? Do not the children 
like the movement shown by the story and 
the poem? You will see this movement in 
the three parts of the poster. Even the posi- 
tion of the moon indicates the passing hours 
of the night. 

Again, the cutting was done in colors. The 
moon, the lights and the water were cut from 
orange colored paper, the other cuttings were 
of black and the mounting was done on dark 
blue paper. 

The children made the poster according to 
the story told to them. They had been told 
that Longfellow's poem, ''Paul Revere's Ride,'' 
would be read to them when their poster was 
completed and they could decide whether the 

81 



PAPER CUTTING 83 

poster would be a good illustration for the 
poem. How carefully they worked on the 
poster! How delighted they were to find the 
ideas they had worked out would illustrate the 
poem! 

Then came a review of number work. They 
were told that they might have a guessing game 
for the eighth grade if they made the three 
clocks showing the three hours mentioned in 
the poem. What neat, accurate clocks! 

All was ready for the game. The title of our 
poster was covered and poster and clocks were 
taken to the eighth grade room. The poster 
was placed in the front of the room and the 
pupils were asked to give the title of the poster. 
They were also asked to tell what each of the 
three pictures portrayed. The three clocks 
were then placed upon the front wall and the 
eighth graders had to think hard. They were 
asked who could recite two lines of the poem 
which the first clock designated. Then came 
the two lines designated by the second and 
third clocks. The second grade pupils felt 



PAPER CUTTING 85 

repaid for their work and did not the eighth 
grade pupils have a test in history and Uterature? 
They enjoyed this test, too. 

Hans Andersen's birthday comes in April 
and we heard some of his fairy tales. We 
were especially interested in ''Five Peas in a 
Pod/' as we had planted peas, beans and corn 
and were watching the growth of these. One 
seed was taken up every other day to note 
the changes which had taken place. We de- 
cided to take pictures of the little bean as it 
grew. The biology teacher was to judge how 
true little bean's pictures were. 

April's poster meant much to the children 
and contributed its share to the Parents' Day 
Exhibit. 



MAY 

How rapidly time flies! Vacation drew near. 
Before that time, however, we took our record 
trip to Japan in order to see the Flag Festival 
celebration. Preparatory to this trip, we re- 
viewed the March Japanese poster entitled 
''Sunrise Land/' 

After the festival, we made a unique poster 
in which we showed a Japanese street at that 
season. There were bamboo poles from which 
floated banners and paper fish. Boys were 
shown marching through the streets carrying 
flags and swords. How anxious the children 
were to make this poster, for the boy's festival 
must not be slighted! 

We were back in America in time to observe 
Mother's Day. For our front board, we cut 
letters to spell ''Mother's Day," and letters 
and numbers to show the date. We cut the 
magazine covers which showed mothers. There 

87 



88 PAPER CUTTING 

were beautiful ones during the war time. 
These pictures were mounted and tacked to 
the moulding at the top of the front board. 
Then we told of 2vliss Janis's idea and how it 
had spread over this country and had reached 
foreign lands. AVe talked of the love for our 
mothers and how we could show this love for 
them. 

We obser\^ed Frank Dempster Sherman's 
birthday. We had learned the legend of the 
daisy, so memorized his poem ''Daisies." We 
cut and colored a daisy for each first grade 
child. We recited our poem and told them the 
legend of the daisy before giving them the 
flowers we had made. 

^"\Tiat cared we for the warm days? We 
were doing interesting things. 

This closed an interesting school year. How 
the time had iio\Mi! There were no dull, 
dragging days. The result of this experiment 
in correlating paper cutting with the common 
school branches proved to me that the knowledge 
imparted was clinched in an interesting way; 



PAPER CUTTING 89 

children were taught to use their eyes and 
''thinking caps'' as well as their hands and 
habits of concentration, so necessary to all 
success, were formed. 

And there was our exhibition on Parents' 
Day. What a display we had and how well 
the children could discuss any poster for the 
guests! Nothing had been forgotten, although 
the posters had been put away at the end of 
the month in which they were made. 

Results of this line of investigation, on my 
part, have been highly gratifying and I am 
sure many will find this to be true. 



SUGGESTIONS 

1 Small unities of the work at hand are given 
each day. The story of Gemila was not given at 
one recitation. It comprised a week's work. 

2 The summary of each unity is a paper cutting 
summary of five minutes' duration. 

3 The general summary at the close of the work 
is a lantern slide talk with the completed poster. 

4 All the children take part in the cutting sum- 
mary of each day's unity. 

5 Each child cuts what he thinks should represent 
that unity on the completed poster. 

6 Pictures and crude sketches are used to help 
a child with the cutting of something he wishes to 
show and has not a clear picture in his mind as to 
the correct movement of scissors to portray that 
picture. Crude sketches by the teacher are valuable 
where pictures are cut in one piece, as ''Angry Sailors'' 
on the Columbus Poster, ''Crossing the Delaware" on 
the Washington Poster, etc. The movement of the 
chalk will help the child to see how the scissors must 
go so that the parts will not be disconnected. The 

91 



92 PAPER CUTTING 

child, however, must plan the details of the cutting 
he wishes to make, for originality must be developed. 

7 When all unities of the work at hand are com- 
pleted, the children choose the cuttings, which have 
been kept by the teacher, to make the poster which 
will depict the work that has just been finished. 

8 The children tell how to aiTange these cuttings 
on the poster and the teacher mounts the cuttings, 
according to the children's plans, in order to save 
material. 



A MODEL LESSON 

An Original Device for Teaching Some Specific 
Phase of Subject Matter 

This device, the manuscript of which was exhibited 
at the Missouri State Fair, shows in minute detail, 
how the correlations may be carried out with any or 
all posters. 



95 



PAPER CUTTING AS A MEDIUM FOR 

HISTORY, LANGUAGE, READING 

AND SPELLING 

Special Topic — Paul Revere's Ride 

Aim of the Device 

1 To encourage each pupil to express 

himself and to do so in complete 
sentences. 

2 To promote clear, logical expression of 

the subject under discussion. 

3 To foster the correlation of subjects. 

4 To motivate work rather than force 

the pupil to cram. 
a Pupil wants to get the story in order 

to lecture. 
b Pupil wants to learn to read in order 

to get the telegrams. 
c Pupil wants to learn to spell in order 

to play the game. 
d Pupil wants to learn the correct use 

of '* isn't'' in order not to spoil this 

particular game. 

97 



98 PAPER CUTTING 

Plan 

Our Paul Revere's Ride Poster (free-hand 
paper cutting) was made during the history 
hour by the Class of 1919-1920. Each child 
of that class contributed one cutting and the 
class planned the details of the poster. How 
proud these children were of their work! Their 
cuttings plainly told the story. The poster 
would show the Class of 1920-1921 what the 
Class of 1919-1920 had learned and how well 
they could show this knowledge in paper 
cutting. And it motivated the work of the 
Class of 1920-1921. The question was, ^^How 
can we show our appreciation of this gift?'' 

What fun to pretend we were going to a 
lantern slide lecture! Our poster would fur- 
nish the slides and a member of the class could 
be lecturer. We would be the appreciative 
audience. Even the poorest pupil wanted to 
lecture. How we clapped when the lecturer 
had finished! And the lecturer deserved the 
applause. Would you not like to hear one of 
the lectures? 



PAPER CUTTING 99 

The lecture below was given by Josephine 
Heberling, age seven years, seven months. 
The picture is that of the poster presented 
to this class by the Class of 1919-1920. 

(This Poster is shown on page 80.) 

Paul Revere was in Boston. He heard some 
Red Coats talking. They said they were go- 
ing to Concord to get all of the Americans' 
guns, bullets and powder. But Paul Revere 
thought of a plan for keeping the Red Coats 
from doing this. He asked a friend of his to 
take two lanterns to the belfry of the Old 
North Church. Then he said, '^If the Red 
Coats go to Concord by land, hang one lantern, 
and if they go by sea, hang two lanterns.'' 
Then he went on the Charlestown side to wait 
and watch. 

About eleven o'clock, he saw one light. 
He jumped on his horse. Out flashed another 
light. Then away went Paul Revere. As he 
was leaving Charlestown, some Red Coats 



100 PAPER CUTTING 

cried, "Halt!'' Paul Revere took the Medford 
Road and the Red Coats fell into a clay pit 
because they did not know this road. It was 
twelve o'clock when he rode through Medford. 
All along the way, Paul Revere had been cry- 
ing, ''Wake, wake, the English are coming!" 
He went so fast that it sounded like a voice 
in the dark. 

At one o'clock, he rode through Lexington. 
Everywhere, you could see lights flash out of 
the windows and hear people moving about 
and children crying. 

When two o'clock came, Paul Revere was 
in Concord. Soon the ship of Red Coats 
came. They thought everybody was asleep 
until the farmers began to fire at them from 
behind trees and stumps. The Red Coats 
ran back to their ship and they did not get 
the Americans' guns, bullets and powder. 

The lecture did not last over three minutes. 
There was time for more delightful work. 
Would it not be fun to get telegrams relating 



PAPER CUTTING 101 

to our poster? Here are a few of the telegrams: 

Mardel, tell me five things you see on the 
poster. (Mardel answered, ''I see a church, 
Paul Revere, a horse, houses and men on the 
poster/') 

Lewis, write the word ''church'' on the 
blackboard. 

Elsie, spell the word ''horse." (Elsie pro- 
nounced the word, then spelled it.) 

Lawrence, name the colors on our poster. 
(Lawrence said, "Black, orange and purple 
are the colors on the poster.") 

John, who are the men with the guns? 
(John's answer: "The men with the guns are 
the Americans.") 

Margaret, find Paul Revere on the poster. 

How quickly the children received the tele- 
grams! How delighted they were with the 
game! 

Another game was suggested. What a fine 
spelling game we could have with the poster! 



102 PAEPR CUTTING 

The teacher started the game. Concentra- 
tion and interest were all that could be desired. 

Would you not have enjoyed this game? 
Listen. 

Tm thinking of a word that begins with ''c." 
The child called upon said, ''Is it church?" 
The teacher answered, ''Yes, it is church." 
That child then took the teacher's place. 
The game was interesting and results were 
surprising, The powers of observation were 
developed as they watched minor details. For 
instance, one child said, "I am thinking of a 
word that begins with 's.' " After saying, 
" Is it shore? " "Is it steeple? " "Is it saddle?" 
"Is it soldier?" did they cease to think? 
The pupil teacher's answer each time, "No, 
it isn't," only tended to make them think and 
observe more carefully. Not until "stirrup" 
was given did their efforts cease. 

What these second graders could tell about 
Paul Revere's Ride would be a credit to a 
higher grade. And yet, they were not forced 
to get the story. From the story told of the 



PAPER CUTTING 103 

pictorial portrayal presented to the class to 
the oral English in the lecture delivered, the 
answering of the telegrams and the use of 
''isn't'' in the spelling game. Then the spelhng 
device continued. After the game, we tried 
to see how many of the words which begin 
with ''s, " suggested by the poster, we could 
spell. 

Around what did all of these things cluster? 
They clustered about the paper cutting por- 
trayal of Paul Revere's Ride. Paper cutting 
furnished the medium for the interpretation 
of this history story and its correlation with 
oral English, reading and spelling. 



228 93 






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